Tyreek Hill celebrates a successful fourth down conversion to seal a Chiefs' victory as Kansas City heads back to the AFC Championship. (Jim Berry/Kansas City Chiefs)
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Editor's note: Tony Grossi is a Cleveland Browns analyst for TheLandOnDemand.com and 850 ESPN Cleveland.
For generations, Browns fans have had to wait for next year for that championship season that’s never come. But this time, they really can’t wait. Next year can’t come soon enough.
Consider their agonizing, 22-17 defeat to the Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs a necessary learning experience in the evolution of a franchise that has turned the corner on dysfunction, mediocrity and constant upheaval.
“Everybody is saying in the locker room and [I] continue to tell guys that we are going to be back,” said quarterback Baker Mayfield after being denied the ball the last 4 minutes, 9 seconds of this divisional playoff game. “It sucks when you come up short, but you get that taste of it and realize you learned lessons. For now, it is definitely going to sting.”
Yes, when a team travels such an unexpected journey the lows often are lower than the highs are high.
The renewal of the collegiate shootout between Mayfield and Patrick Mahomes never materialized.
Mahomes (21 of 30 for 255 yards, one TD) built a 19-3 halftime lead for the Chiefs and then was knocked out of the game on a legal hit by linebacker Mack Wilson with 7:27 to play in the third quarter. Mahomes suffered a concussion, jeopardizing his status for the Chiefs' AFC Championship Game matchup against the Buffalo Bills.
Journeyman backup Chad Henne completed the drive for a Kansas City field goal to go up, 22-10.
But you had to like the Browns’ chances.
“There’s a gleam,” CBS analyst Tony Romo said, invoking the famous, corny line by former Browns coach Marty Schottenheimer from the 1980s glory days.
Ultimately, the Browns could not stop Henne, 35, and making his first post-season appearance in 11 NFL seasons, from converting first downs.
“It came down to us on defense, and we let it slip,” said Myles Garrett, who sucked wind and winced after suffering an oblique muscle injury early in the second quarter.
Garrett’s sack of Henne at the two-minute warning created third-and-14 for the Chiefs. The Browns had blown their timeouts, using one on an ill-advised challenge of a Chiefs reception, but would have had time for Mayfield’s first opportunity to engineer an epic, playoff-winning drive with a defensive stop.
But Henne scrambled for 13 yards on third down and then Kansas City coach Andy Reid gambled on fourth-and-1 at the Chiefs’ 49, and Henne was able to complete a short pass to Tyreek Hill, who couldn’t be covered all day, for the first down that clinched the Browns’ loss. Mayfield (23 of 37, 204 yards, one TD, one interception) was denied the chance to pull off a frantic finish.
“We had two opportunities,” Garrett said. “They came to third down twice and fourth down on the second one, and we didn’t make it happen. It was right in front of us, and this time, we didn’t get it done.”
The Browns’ defense, imperfect all year but always battling, had “held” Mahomes to two touchdowns and two field goals in four possessions in the first half. It finally created a turnover with 8 minutes to play when Henne sailed the ball into the end zone and into the waiting arms of safety Karl Joseph.
But after one fourth-down conversion, the Browns faced fourth-and-9 at their 32 with 4:09 to play. Coach Kevin Stefanski decided to punt, and the Browns never got the ball back.
“That was just probably too long there at that distance. If it was tighter, without a doubt [I would’ve gone for it],” Stefanski said.
Needing a clean game against the defending champions on their home field, the Browns were unable to duplicate what they did in Pittsburgh to advance to the second round of the playoffs.
The offense had only three possessions in the first half, and they were marked by numerous errors – missed blocks in the running game, two drops by Nick Chubb on short passes, a holding penalty that negated a first down, a phantom offensive pass interference on Donovan Peoples-Jones, and then a fumble out of the end zone by Rashard Higgins – that sabotaged a decent throwing start by Mayfield.
The controversial Higgins turnover with 1:34 to play in the first half became a 10-point swing.
Higgins was trying to complete a 26-yard touchdown play by trying to reach the ball over the goal line. Inside the 1-yard line, Kansas City safety Daniel Sorensen dislodged the ball by launching and aiming his helmet squarely into Higgins' helmet. The ball bounced out of the end zone, which, correctly, was ruled a Kansas City touchback and gave the Chiefs possession at their 20-yard line.
But the illegal hit by Sorensen was ignored by the officials and the play was unable to be reviewed in accordance with the league’s arcane replay rules. In New York, league officials knew Sorensen’s hit was exactly the kind of dangerous act rules-makers have tried to eradicate.
But the show went on, and Mahomes traversed 70 yards in 1:32 to post a field goal. What should have been a 16-10 Kansas City lead ballooned to 19-3 at the break.
Stefanski would not comment on the illegal hit that was ignored. Of Higgins’ play, the coach said, “I will never, ever doubt Rashard Higgins’ effort or our guys’ effort. Our rule there is not to reach the ball out when it is first and goal, and he knows that. Again, appreciate his effort. He battled like he always does, but we have to fight that urge because it is such a big loss if it does end up being a touchback.”
Pressed a second time about the play, Stefanski double-downed on his defense of Higgins, who led the Browns with 88 yards receiving on five catches.
“Let me be very, very clear: Rashard Higgins is a warrior,” Stefanski said. “He has battled all season long. He has done everything that I have asked him to do from the moment we get together in July. I am never going to doubt that kid’s effort. He is a team player all the way. An unfortunate play, and he understands the rule and I understand the rule. We will continue to coach our guys, but Rashard Higgins, I am proud to coach him because he gives you everything he has.”
Stefanski preferred to deflect blame for the loss elsewhere. He pointed the finger at himself for failing to challenge a Kansas City trap and for wrongly challenging a Hill catch. He also failed to maximize Chubb (13 carries for 69 yards) and ex-Chief Kareem Hunt (32 yards, one TD, on 6 carries).
“You can’t come in here and ultimately score 17 points and get a win versus this team,” he said. “That first half, I do not think that was a clean operation like we ask for.
“There were a bunch of moments in that game that did not go our way that need to in order to win on the road versus the Super Bowl champs. Obviously, our goal there was to double-dip – get a touchdown and then come back and play well in the first drive of the second half. We really did not do either so that is disappointing from an offensive standpoint. That is where I point the finger at me and say, ‘What can I do better there?’”
Stefanski spoke of the “finality” of losing in the playoffs and ultimately going 0-1 in a win-or-lose situation. But the sting of this loss should pass when the dust settles on an thoroughly unlikely 12-5 Browns season.
“At the end of the day, it was not in the cards for us and we did not get it done, but we get another opportunity and have another chance,” Garrett said. “Most of these guys are pretty young. We have a young core. We go back, keep building on what we have this year and take another crack at it.”